Dear d.tech families,

Thanks to all of you who attended the Town Hall meeting last week.  In case you missed it, we spent a considerable amount of time discussing the facility options for next year while we wait for the completion of the building at Oracle. We know that the school district will allow us to continue to use the Rollins Road facility as well as the Crestmoor site at 300 Piedmont Avenue in San Bruno.  Based on that information, we have begun to use a design thinking process for planning for next year. In this newsletter, you will find a way to share your ideas and then we will do some empathy work.  

It is also within this spirit that we ask you to complete the Fall Parent Survey. We value your opinion and look forward to hearing from you.

Also, I kept this message short to help make sure you get to the part of the newsletter about the steel signing ceremony. There has been a change of plans and a form that needs filled out.

Have a great week,

Ken

d.tech is on the Move: Submit your Ideas for Fall Semester 2017

Put on your design thinking caps: d.tech is soliciting creative ideas from you and all in our community.  We need to accommodate 550 students plus staff in fall 2017, and the new Oracle building will not be available until January 2018. Our current building only accommodates 420 students.

Options include but are not limited to...

• Moving all students to Peninsula High School, 300 Piedmont Ave., San Bruno (offered by district free of charge; not near public transportation)
• Moving an entire class grade level to Peninsula High School while keeping the other three classes at current site, OR
• Staggering schedules so all classes can stay at current site

The October Town Hall generated additional creative ideas which inspired the notion to gather more suggestions from our community at large. Do you know of potential locations, creative scheduling ideas, or outside-the-box thinking to transform our delayed move into a lucky learning opportunity? Flex your creative muscles! Once we have generated a range of ideas, we will send a survey to the community for additional input before a final decision is made.

Please click here to view our form to submit ideas.  Submission deadline is Tuesday, November 8. If you have trouble accessing the form, please email Natasha LaVine for assistance. 

December Intersession Class Offerings
Check out the December Class Offerings - Students will request their classes in their @d.tech class next week.  
 
BART Tickets Orders - Due Friday, November 4

You can purchase BART tickets at a 50% discount rate. These tickets are separate from Clipper or other tickets you might purchase. These tickets can only be used on weekdays and only to/from school, or for school field trips. Our next opportunity to order BART tickets is here. If you need more tickets, please bring your check to the Front Office by Friday, November 4. Each ticket is valued at $32 but you pay only $16.

1. Check payment must be made in increments of $16.
2. Make check payable to Design Tech High School.
3. Please write your child’s name and BART on the memo line as well as the number of tickets you are paying for.  

Important: If your ticket gets damaged, you need to go to the BART office at Lake Merritt to replace it. d.tech cannot take damaged tickets back. Tickets are never replaced or refunded by us or by BART. If this is your first order, please fill out the BART form, print, and enclose with your check. Questions? Contact d.tech parent Idit Harlev who manages this program. Thanks, Idit.

d.tech Download: Your Main Source of Information

Feedback we’ve received from parents is to limit general news with parents to once a week; thus, the school’s main source of news and events is the weekly d.tech Download. All other contacts you receive regarding d.tech are opt-in avenues: you joined a team or committee, enrolled in the parent forum (BigTent), or you were specifically contacted by the email sender. The Download staff is comprised of parent volunteers who work every week & weekend to publish your news.

Virtual Tour of Rollins Road

The 3D model of the school is on our website now; check it out. It’s fun to explore the space this way. Thanks go to the Knott family for sacrificing two days of family time: Mike Knott for capturing the images at d.tech and Zack (10) & Lexi (7) for helping Christy clean up the school in preparation for the pictures.

Falliday Dance - November 18

Show off your awesome dance moves at the upcoming Falliday Dance! The dance is in the hangar at the d.tech campus. No need to take a trip to the mall; this dance is semi-formal. Tickets are $5! Buy them starting Thursday, November 3, during lunchtime in the hangar.

​Falliday Dance
date: Friday, November 18, 2016
time: 7-9pm
who: d.tech students only
place: Hangar, d.tech
semi-formal attire
$5 tickets go on sale starting Thursday, November 3

Girls Volleyball

On October 25, JVs lost their last game to Summit Prep while Varsity lost against Alma Heights Christian School. On Friday, Varsity won their last game by forfeiture against East Palo Alto Phoenix Academy. Dragons appreciated all the support by students, teachers, and parents in cheering the teams on.

Winter Sports Season

It's just around the corner. If you're interested in playing one of these sports, follow the link to your sport of interest to fill out our survey!

Boys Basketball: Coaches Vinny Fobbs and Steve Chan will return to coach our boys (we’re still looking for a JV boys coach); email dtechathletics@dtechhs.org if you have any leads for us). Tryouts for playing boys basketball will be on Tuesday, November 1 (5-7pm), @ Peninsula High School in the Main Gym.

Girls Basketball: Coach Lenin Castro is going to be leading the girls team this year. He has great experience with start-up school programs and helping build really strong teams. His focus on character development, in addition to basketball skills, is going to make for a great year. Tryouts for playing girls basketball will be on Tuesday, November 1 (7-9pm), @ Peninsula High School in the Main Gym.

ATTENTION ALL BASKETBALL PARENTS: We will be having a coaches/parent meeting on Friday, November 4, at Peninsula HS from 6:30-7:30pm. This is for BOTH girls and boys teams. This is a chance to meet your coaches and discuss the goals and needs of the upcoming season. This meeting will be held after our teams practice so we will be meeting in the Main Gym.

Boys Soccer: Coach David Savelson will be leading the charge this year with our boys soccer team--transitioning d.tech players from futsal to soccer for d.tech. He will be joined by two great co-coaches. An additional thanks to David for stepping up to help manage some of the game scheduling and more during the past month. Tryout date and time TBD.

Girls Soccer: Chelsea Little (9th grade d.tech English teacher) will be assisting Mohammed Lounnas in coaching our girls soccer team. Chelsea’s dad, a former semi-pro player in England, will be the team's advisor. We’re excited to have Chelsea’s family help us build a great girls soccer program. Tryout date and time TBD.

d.tech Athletic Hub

Games & meets: Student Calendar. Official athletic online hub: MaxPreps and MaxPreps Calendar. Questions? Contact Athletic Director Marcus Marsall.

Make Your Mark: Steel Signing Ceremony on November 7

Change of Plans: Oracle has generously chartered buses for us to make the day easier.

Join us on November 7 when students and parents have the opportunity to sign the large steel beam to be installed in the new building’s Design Realization Garage (DRG). Requirement: Each student is required to fill out a field trip form and turn it in by Thursday, November 3.

The schedule for the event is listed below.  Students will travel in @dtech groups. Students who need to complete MAP testing will do so upon returning to d.tech. We will use part of day for MAPS testing make-ups and special lessons, and then students will end shortened class periods after lunch.  School will still end at 3:40pm on the November 7.

Show Gratitude for Our Troops!

Donate candy to our soldiers. Bring candy to your @dtech until November 4. There's more! For every Ziploc bag of candy you donate, your grade will receive one spirit point. What are spirit points? Spirit points are accumulated throughout the year from spirit days, donations, and other events. At the end of the year, the grade level with the most spirit points will win an AWESOME prize! - d.Leadership Club

BREAD Rolls into New Season

d.tech's robotics team, BREAD, has come back into the school year with a blast! They competed in the Capital City Classic, an off-season event held at Elk Grove, California, October 21-23. Not only did they come back with new experiences, but with an award! The Judges' Award was presented to BREAD as a team that merits recognition in unique performance, dynamic, or efforts. Congratulations to BREAD and good luck with the upcoming season. Crust the competition!

Operation Christmas Child :

REACH club is organizing a drive called Operation Christmas Child. People from all over pack shoe boxes which are shipped via planes, trains, canoes, even camels and elephants to children in war or poverty stricken countries all over the world. Click here for information on how to pack a shoe box. We really hope you take part and help us reach our goal of 150 boxes of love! "